Fleeting Shadows
by Spellbinder Dorel
Summary: Paul has returned home, but even though the Spellbinder's world is sealed off, he is still haunted by images of the past.
1. Chapter 1

This may be a one-shot since I know the genre is old and most people probably either never heard of it or don't remember it, but if people seem to have an interest in it, I'll post some more later. Characters and Spellbinder world does not belong to me, it is the property of Film Australia.

**Fleeting Shadows**

The sweat was dripping down his face as he ran through the forest. He ducked quickly behind a wide tree and tried his best to keep the sound of his own panting as quiet as possible, and all the while he listened intently. Nothing. _Maybe I lost her._

Slowly he tilted his head around the edge of the bark, and risked a look back.

CRAAACK!!!

As he stumbled backwards he could still feel the hot dust where the powerbolt had struck the tree mere centimeters from his face. He scrambled for purchase among the dry leaves beneath his hands, and pulled himself along the ground to break into another run.

He saw the ground dropping to the left and moved his legs as fast as he could, desperate to find some cover or shelter to hide him from his pursuer. There was an opening down near the base of the shallow slope, and he recognized the pale stones of the quarry. Faster and faster he ran, his muscles burning like acid within his legs. He could feel his sinews stretching and tearing as he pushed himself beyond acceptable limits to reach the safety of the caves he knew were below. Just as he saw the edge leaping up at him, he heard the rustling of leaves to his left, and as he turned his gaze for a moment he tripped over a fallen limb and tumbled over the edge.

His body was stiff and cold, and he realized that he had fallen into the quarry. He felt as if he was one giant tuning fork that had just been struck, though he knew that he was motionless. Laying there for countless heartbeats, he tried to lift himself repeatedly, only to meet with failure. After what seemed like nearly an hour, the feeling began to return to the tips of his fingers. Burning and tingling trickled down his arms as he forced them to respond to his will. He commanded his arms to bend and leaned his head up to see a discoloration in the air in front of him.

He heard it then, the familiar crackling sound, and could smell the faint taste of ozone in the air. What appeared to be a jagged hole was cut out of the air before him like a torn image of a moving picture. That was it. That was home.

Fighting the numbing pain of the thousands of needles that prickled through his nerve-racked body, he threw his arms in front of him and began to pull at the loose rocks and hard-packed soil, desperately crawling centimeter by centimeter towards the one place where he could truly be safe. He heard his own gasps as his cracked ribs filled his breathing with agony, bringing himself closer and closer. He reached out, only a few hand spans from his relief, when he saw the boots step down in his path.

The black leather glistened with the moisture of the forest, and shadows began to fall across his vision. The tear in space that was so near to him faded away into shadows and all he could see as he looked up was the face of his pursuer. The red hair hung over the black shoulders of her powersuit with its gold symbol burning brightly across her chest.

"Surely you didn't think you could get away from me so easily, Paul?" She threw her head backwards and began to laugh as the darkness closed in around him, choking out the last glimmer of light and sound and smell and touch...

He awoke with a violent shudder, and took a few moments to realize where he was. He was safe after all. He was in his own bed, in his own house. In his own world. _Safe._ Sliding his hands beneath his pillow he propped his head up and looked at the shadowed ceiling above. He became aware of the gentle patter of rain on the window and looked over at the clock on the night stand and saw that it read 4:26 am. He would have loved nothing more than to be able to curl back up again and drift into sleep for a few more hours, but he knew that it wouldn't happen. He was fully awake now and just like all the other nights when he had been woken so abruptly, he knew that he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep again. But at least he was home. At least she wasn't here.


	2. Chapter 2

Characters and Spellbinder world does not belong to me, it is the property of Film Australia.

Fleeting Shadows Ch.2

The bell was still ringing as the two boys came out of the classroom, deep in conversation. They crossed the hallway and stepped out of the flow of traffic and Alex opened the small book up while pointing to a specific line, "But don't you see Nathan? Estella was part of the evil plan all along!

There's no way she could have that big of a change of heart after all that!"

The other boy shook his head, the light locks of hair waved briefly in front of his face, "That's love though mate, her heart was melted by his devotion to her! Isn't it beautiful?"

Alex waved his hands in front of him. "Yeah yeah, but I still can't believe that crazy guy was the one helping him out all along! I mean..."

A contralto voice interrupted his thought, "Alex! Hey Alex, over here!" Katrina was trying to fight her way through the crowded hallway, dragging Paul along with her. "Hey Alex, we need to talk to you!" She then noticed the other boy, "Oh Nathan, I'm sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt, but I've got to talk to Alex."

Nathan smiled and patted the other boy on the back, "Sure thing. Alex mate, I'll talk to you later.

Alex stood with a questioning look on his face, but before he could say anything, Paul spoke up. "Katrina, what's going on?" He looked at her and then at Alex. A wide smile spanned her face and both boys could tell that she was very excited about something. She held out a book for them to see and pointed to a picture of a device with a large metal globe on top and a girl touching it whose hair was standing straight out. "What is that thing?" Paul asked.

"It's called a vandergraph generator, and it works by channeling static electricity and collecting it in a polarized area. I think this might have something to do with how the Spellbinders' powersuits throw those energy bolts." As she said it, recognition grew on the two boys' faces. She continued, "I've been thinking about the voltage amplifier that Paul's been working on from the schematic we printed out, and I think that we might be able to use it to boost a static charge up to a stronger level. All we'd really need to do is figure out how to release the electricity into a static form, and then to polarize the wrist plates so that the energy bolt can be discharged!"

"Wow, this is great!" Alex looked back and forth between the two of them, "But... How are we going to build this static whats-it?"

Before anyone could answer, the siren rang again, and hallway began to clear, "We'll talk about it this weekend," Paul said. He smiled at the two of them and slinging his bag over his shoulder, he walked swiftly to his next class. Katrina turned to go too, but Alex called out to her,

"Are we still on for the movie tonight?"

She smiled back at him and waved, "Yeah, I'll see you this evening at the theater!"

The next Sunday Katrina came over to Alex's house, bringing along a pair of electromagnet coils that she had bought at Nathan's dad's electronics shop. Alex's father and brother were both out of the house for the evening, and when Paul showed up, they all went down into the basement where they had been working on their project for the past six months. "Did you bring the voltage amplifier?" asked Alex.

Paul nodded and pulled the small plastic box out of his pocket. He indicated two screws on one side with his index finger, "These are the leads, with the bit of green electrical tape on this side of it, and", he pointed to the other side, with four screws coming out and a piece of red tape over that edge, "the opposite side here is the output". He showed them a dial that he had incorporated into the side, with a voltage-meter built into it, "This wasn't in the design, but since we don't know how much power we'll need, I figured we could start small and work our way up".

They worked for three hours wiring the new electromagnets onto the voltage amplifier and then attaching it all to the old black rubber raincoat Alex had found that fit perfectly and they used it as the insulator for the rest of their makeshift suit. When they had finished making the last of the connections, they stood back and basked in the pride of what they had built. The time seemed to stretch out until finally Alex broke the silence, "Well, I guess we should see if it works now eh?"

The powerstones that had been used in the suit Mr. Reynolds had made for Ashka had been destroyed when Mr. Katsonis overloaded it, so the three teens did their best to improvise with what they had. They had several battery outlets that they could switch to fit the suit, and they began with a single 9-volt battery. Paul had felt pessimistic about it, "That won't be enough to trigger the relays in the shoulders alone, I don't think it'll even get to the wrist controls", still, he had volunteered to be the first to try out the suit.

Paul slipped on a pair of galoshes that belonged to Alex's brother, Nick, and Katrina helped him slip into the heavy rubber coat. They had detached the hood, and the snaps that had once held it in place now held three of the smaller electromagnets that went around his back. The thick sleeve covered his entire arm, but the two electromagnets of Katrina's that they had fastened to the wrist area went down the length of his right forearm. A magnet salvaged from an old computer hard drive was attached to the top of his left wrist. Alex helped him to close the four clasps on the front of the jacket and Paul slid the huge leather belt around the whole thing. They plugged the adapter jack into the main power distributer on the belt and stood back to take a final look.

"Well mate", said Alex, "Go for it!".

Paul felt a tingling sensation move up from his stomach in anticipation as he brought his right arm up over his left wrist. "Alright guys, here goes nothing." He felt the magnet in his wrist stick to the core piece of metal in his right forearm, and as he swiftly slid his arm down, he briefly heard a slight clacking sound as a small current tripped the shoulder relays. Elation filled him, but as he looked for the glowing in his right hand and found it empty, he glanced down at the voltage meter attached to the new amplifier and saw that it was at zero.

"What happened?" Katrina asked. She reached down and took out the warm battery, looking at it as if it alone would tell them the secrets they wanted to know. Grabbing a nearby charge meter, she plugged the battery in, "Dead. "

"Katrina, why did you grab an old battery?" Alex accursedly said.

She glared at him and picked up an empty box from the table, "I just opened this one".

"No," Paul interjected, "it did work for a moment. I could feel it. The suit just needs more power than that."


End file.
